In response to "The New Atheism" (Nov 2006): three minor points and a larger impression.
"Should they (parents) be free to impose their beliefs on their children?" Dawkins asks. May I propose that the only way to not impose beliefs on your children is to not have any. When your 4-year old comes to you and asks, "Daddy, is there a god?" (and sooner or later he will), you only have 4 choices: 1) yes 2) no 3) I don't know or 4) I'm not telling you. Each of these four responses comes freighted with its own assumptions and consequences which your child will vigorously act upon. So let us let go of the idea of "letting our children decide for themselves when they're older." A child will insist on some foundational truths before ever getting to a point of “thinking for himself.” Whether these truths are naturalistic or theistic will probably be decided by his parents.
Second minor point: governments based on reason alone, suppressing superstition and governed by an educated elite have already been tried. Ever heard of Joseph Stalin? Mao Zedong? Both proud materialist, rationalist atheists who killed more people in the name of humanity than Christians and Muslims have killed in the name of God (arguably, Mao did it all by himself). Presumably this is not the world that the New Atheists envision, but I see shockingly little sense of historical perspective in Dawkins, Harris or even Dennett.
I was mildly disappointed that Mr. Wolf sees the only three possible belief systems as atheistic naturalism, foaming-at-the-mouth fundamentalism or theologically wishy-washy liberalism. There is a fourth option, represented by the likes of C.S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, N.T. Wright and Mark Knoll, respected scholars who have interacted directly with all three of these other options, and arrived at (gasp!) a historically orthodox form of Christianity.
Finally, Mr. Wolf hits the nail on the head when he mentions that "the New Atheism... doesn't quicken the blood." I think most people intuitively sense this. If the most the New Atheists have to offer the man on the street is birth/school/work/death, the religionists will always win. Perhaps this is because religious people are superstitious malignant-meme-infected rabble who can't be trusted to think for themselves. Perhaps, just perhaps, it's because there is something in human nature which has the "god-shaped vacuum" of which Augustine of Hippo spoke.
Thomas M. GoodnowElk Grove, CA
